Facts about the International Association of Hydrological Sciences

ABSTRACT

Despite several studies of spatial and temporal variation in water temperature characteristics, few investigations of longer-term water temperature behaviour in Britain rivers have been undertaken. This paper reports the results from a 10-year study of river water temperatures at three monitoring stations on the River Exe, Devon, UK. Data concerning annual statistics, seasonal regime, diurnal variation, duration characteristics and accumulated temperature are analysed and reveal essentially stable water temperature behaviour over the decade 1974–1983. Contrasts between monitoring stations are also evident and reflect the effects of regional and more local controls as well as the influence of hydrological factors. In spite of these differences, water temperature behaviour is largely synchronous across this river system.     

Statutes and Bye-laws of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences

Abstract

A baseflow recession constant, which can be derived from a simple exponential equation, is used to characterize the behaviour of low flows. Its derivation and quantification is important to the water industry. The use of a computer statistical package that speeds up its derivation has been tried and found to be more effective than the present tedious manual and subjective techniques. It is therefore advocated in this paper.     

Adaptation of water resources systems to changing society and environment: a statement by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences

ABSTRACT

We explore how to address the challenges of adaptation of water resources systems under changing conditions by supporting flexible, resilient and low-regret solutions, coupled with on-going monitoring and evaluation. This will require improved understanding of the linkages between biophysical and social aspects in order to better anticipate the possible future co-evolution of water systems and society. We also present a call to enhance the dialogue and foster the actions of governments, the international scientific community, research funding agencies and additional stakeholders in order to develop effective solutions to support water resources systems adaptation. Finally, we call the scientific community to a renewed and unified effort to deliver an innovative message to stakeholders. Water science is essential to resolve the water crisis, but the effectiveness of solutions depends, inter alia, on the capability of scientists to deliver a new, coherent and technical vision for the future development of water systems.

EDITOR D. Koutsoyiannis; ASSOCIATE EDITOR not assigned     

Adaptation of water resources systems to changing society and environment: a statement by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences

ABSTRACT

We explore how to address the challenges of adaptation of water resources systems under changing conditions by supporting flexible, resilient and low-regret solutions, coupled with on-going monitoring and evaluation. This will require improved understanding of the linkages between biophysical and social aspects in order to better anticipate the possible future co-evolution of water systems and society. We also present a call to enhance the dialogue and foster the actions of governments, the international scientific community, research funding agencies and additional stakeholders in order to develop effective solutions to support water resources systems adaptation. Finally, we call the scientific community to a renewed and unified effort to deliver an innovative message to stakeholders. Water science is essential to resolve the water crisis, but the effectiveness of solutions depends, inter alia, on the capability of scientists to deliver a new, coherent and technical vision for the future development of water systems.

EDITOR D. Koutsoyiannis; ASSOCIATE EDITOR not assigned     

古ENSO的研究进展

本文对20世纪90年代后期逐渐在古气候学、古海洋学、地质学和古生物学等跨学科交叉领域中崭露头角的热点问题——古ENSO研究的前沿进展做了系统的总结和回顾.从观测和气候模拟两方面对集中于不同时间尺度的焦点问题进行展开,主要包括如下几个时段：早-中全新世的厄尔尼诺的减弱;末次冰期中的ENSO循环及其与高纬气候的联系;以及末次间冰期的ENSO现象.其中对早-中全新世时期的ENSO减弱的相对成熟的“岁差”机制做了详细总结,而对另两个时段的矛盾和问题做了简要整理和概括.建议在今后的古ENSO研究中,除观测外,要注意提高对古ENSO进行动力模拟研究的比重,两者相互配合来增加对ENSO循环和气候背景之间相互作用机理的理解,从而为今后全球变暖背景下的ENSO预测提供有意义的借鉴.     

Hydrological change driven by human activities and climate variation and its spatial variability in Huaihe Basin,China

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the impacts of human activities, especially water resources development, and climate variation on the runoff reduction and its spatial variability in the Huaihe Basin, the sixth largest river basin in China, which is also an important agricultural area in Eastern China. The annual runoff had statistically negative trends at all hydrological stations located on the main river and the major tributaries, which ranges from ?0.13 to ?1.99 mm year^-1. The Budyko-based approach was employed to quantitatively differentiate the runoff reduction driven by human activities and climate variation. Results showed that the precipitation decrease contributed to the runoff reduction in all study sub-catchments. However, significant reductions of the annual runoff in some sub-catchments were mainly caused by the human activities rather than the precipitation decrease. Spatial variability of hydrological changes were closely related to different types of human activities especially irrigation and water diversion. In the southern sub-catchments, water diversion played a significant role in runoff reduction, while agriculture irrigation was the relatively dominant driving factor in the northern sub-catchments. The results show the complexity in the catchment hydrological response to the changes in climate forcing and human water resources development and the effectiveness of the Budyko-based approach for attribution analysis.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor C. Cudennec     

An overview on the seismicity of Cuba

The seismicity of Cuba is briefly presented together with a few fundamental neotectonic elements of the adjacent Caribbean region. The Cuban seismicity catalogue has been extended back to 1528 and it shows that the largest earthquakes occurred in 1766 and 1852 (I = IX MSK). Two types of seismicity (intraplate and interplate) can be distinguished in Cuba. Western and Eastern Seismotectonic Units correspond to intraplate type and the Southeastern Seismotectonic Unit to interplate type. Western Cuba is characterized by a low frequency of earthquake occurrence. Distribution of epicenters is not regular and the most important events mainly concentrate along two regional active fault system (Nortecubana and Surcubana). Due to the lack of seismic stations in this region, the characterization of seismicity is frequently done on the grounds of historical data available from 1693. The main seismogenic source for Cuba is the Bartlett-Cayman fault system, but inland there are other active structures. Some issues about historical and present day Cuban seismological research are also showed.     

地表热红外辐射的小波分析及其在现今构造活动研究中的意义

地表热红外辐射的影响因素较多,不仅受到构造活动的影响,还受到大气、太阳以及植被等多种因素的干扰.如何排除这些因素的干扰,是热红外遥感用于研究断层活动或者地震活动的难点之一.从频率域看,地表热红外辐射主要存在3种频段：(1)高频, 周期小于1年的天气变化;(2)中频,以1年周期为主的太阳、植被与季节变化; (3)低频,大于1年周期的大气变化的长周期成份,地壳缓慢的运动引起的热辐射变化亦属于长周期变化.本文运用小波理论将地表热红外辐射分解为上述3个频率成份,并结合气象资料和地震活动进行综合分析.结果表明,低频成份的热异常更接近于断层活动所引起的热信息,能为断层或地震活动提供一定的指示信息.低频成份的高温异常区(条带)跟构造特征、地震活动密切相关.     

Hydrological regime of the Rhône Delta and dynamics of its coastline

Specific features of the hydrological regime of the Rhône River and the nearshore zone of its mouth are discussed. The processes of seawater intrusion into the delta branches are described. The information on the history of the delta evolution and development is presented along with the reconstruction of the Holocene evolution of the Rhône Delta and analysis of formation peculiarities of the present-day delta. Channel processes in the Rhône Delta and the dynamics of the delta coastline are described; characteristics of the deep-water fan are discussed, and the data on sediment balance are given.     

International standard (ISO) on seismic actions for designing geotechnical works–An overview

The seismic performance of geotechnical works is significantly affected by ground displacement. In particular, soil–structure interaction and effects of liquefaction play major roles and pose difficult problems for engineers. An International Standard, ISO23469, is being developed for addressing these issues in a systematic manner within a consistent framework. The objective of this paper is to give an overview of this International Standard.In this International Standard, the seismic actions are determined through two stages. The first stage determines basic seismic action variables, including the earthquake ground motion at the site, the potential for earthquake-associated phenomena such as liquefaction and induced lateral ground displacement. These basic variables are used, in the second stage, for specifying the seismic actions for designing geotechnical works. In the second stage, the soil–structure interaction plays a major role. Types of analyses are classified based on a combination of static/dynamic analyses and the procedure for soil–structure interaction classified as follows:

– simplified: soil–structure interaction of a global system is modeled as an action on a substructure;

– detailed: soil–structure interaction of a global system is modeled as a coupled system.

An overview of black carbon deposition in High Asia glaciers and its impacts on radiation balance

Since 2000, 18 High Asia glaciers have been surveyed for black carbon (BC) deposition 22 times, and numerous snow samples and ice cores have been collected by researchers. However, most of the results were interpreted individually in papers. Here, we assemble the data and discuss the distribution of BC deposition and its impacts on the melting of the glaciers through radiative forcing. We find that BC distribution on the surfaces of High Asia glaciers primarily depends upon their elevations (i.e., higher sites have lower concentrations) and then upon regional BC emissions and surface melting conditions. BC concentrations in High Asia glaciers are similar to the Arctic and western American mountains but are significantly less than heavy industrialized areas such as northern China. Although Himalayan glaciers, which are important due to their water resources, are directly facing the strong emissions from South Asia, their mean BC is the lowest due to high elevations. A new finding indicated by ice core records suggested that great valleys in the eastern Himalayan section are effective pathways for BC entering the Tibetan Plateau and make increasing BC trends in the local glaciers. On average, BC deposition causes a mean forcing of ∼6 W m⁻² (roughly estimated 5% of the total forcing) in High Asia glaciers and therefore may not be a major factor impacting the melting of most glaciers.     

Present-day geodynamics of the circum-Adriatic region: An overview

This volume builds on presentations made at two thematic sessions on “The Active Tectonics of the Circum-Adriatic Region” at the EGU 2007 and 2008 General Assemblies in Vienna. In both sessions, contributions were invited from workers incorporating structural, geophysical, seismological, remote sensing, geodetic and thermochronological methods to better understand the crustal evolution and ongoing development of one of Europe's most interesting tectonic regions. The Adriatic region occupies a central position within the geodynamic framework of the Central Mediterranean. It is surrounded by actively deforming belts of diverse character including transpressional, contractional, strike-slip and extensional domains, collectively defining the structurally complex and kinematically varied boundaries of the Adria plate. Because many countries occupy the circum-Adriatic region, international collaborative research into the tectonic activity and associated natural hazards of the region is relevant and important to European society. In this context, the papers presented in this volume provide important new data that bear on various aspects of the active tectonics of the circum-Adriatic region. These contributions typically draw on multidisciplinary structural, geophysical and geochronological datasets to draw new conclusions concerning the spatial and temporal evolution of Adria's bounding deformation zones, especially the southeastern and southern Italian regions and NE Adriatic region. In this overview, we provide a state-of-the-art summary of different aspects of present-day Adria geodynamics to provide a common background for the individual contributions that follow.     

近期与地学研究有关的国际会议预告

目前国际上与地学有关的国际会议相当多 ,内容涉及地质、环境、灾害、地球物理、勘探等各个方面。近几年中国地震局组团参加的国际会议主要有 :西太平洋地球物理学会、国际大地测量学与地球物理学联合会 ( IUGG)、国际地震学与地球内部物理学协会 ( IASPEI)等举办的学术会议。本文着重介绍近期与地震学和地球物理学研究有关的一些主要国际会议的召开情况。1　西太平洋地球物理会议西太平洋地球物理会议由美国地球物理联合会主办 ,旨在召集来自西太平洋及其周边地区的地球科学家进行学术交流 ,促进该地区的地球科学研究 ,同时 ,亦欢迎世…